State Taxation

We know what you are thinking. Another article on the Gaied case? By now anyone who follows New York tax developments to any degree has seen articles analyzing the New York Court of Appeals’ landmark decision on New York’s residency rules.

Just like a midtown Manhattan city block, the NYS Tax Department’s position concerning the application of the state’s sales tax rules to scaffolding transactions appears to be continually under construction. On October 23, 2014, the Department issued TSB‑M‑14(15)S to clarify its policy in this area.

On April 1, 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law several provisions affecting estate planning and trusts as part of the New York State Executive Budget. Although most of the attention has focused on the New York estate tax law changes, the new law ushered in significant changes in the income taxation of trusts as well.

New York City and New Jersey have recently enacted several statutes that impose various obligations on employers who do business in those jurisdictions. These provisions include additional employment protection for pregnant employees or those affected by pregnancy, protection for victims of domestic or sexual violence, and protection for job applicants with a criminal history.

On Aug. 25, 2014, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) issued TSB-M-14(6)M to provide guidance on the significant changes in the New York State estate tax system that became effective on Apr. 1, 2014 (see this author's prior TaxStringer article on the subject). In its guidance, the New York DTF clarified certain points, left open by the language of the April statute, concerning the following:

As if the ever-changing state and local tax laws and regulations aren't complicated enough for U.S.-based companies, multinational (i.e. foreign, non-U.S.) companies have it worse. For such company, failure to consider state and local tax implications when deciding to expand to the United States could have costly consequences.

New York’s nonresident audit program continues to snag thousands of taxpayers who might—or might not—owe additional tax dollars to the state. Residency audits have reportedly generated more than $1 billion dollars for New York’s coffers, and hundreds of millions of dollars of new revenue is budgeted for the next year.

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